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BRADENTON — Postal workers warned Thursday that if people don’t start paying attention to what they described as the degradation of the postal service, in five or 10 years the industry will look completely different, and not in a good way.

“By outsourcing a little bit here, a little bit there, downgrading over time — I mean, you used to be able to get a letter in Bradenton, you could mail it today and get it tomorrow,” sad Deborah Smith, president of the Manatee-area local of the American Postal Workers Union. “Now that’s taking two or three days, because that mail is having to travel, because of this downsizing and the services being cut.”

(U.S. SENATE)-Senator Jon Tester today met incoming Postmaster General Megan Brennan for the first time to discuss strengthening the Postal Service and the need to improve delivery standards in rural states like Montana.

Tester emphasized the Postal Service’s delivery standards have become a disaster for USPS and for the Montana families that rely on the Postal Service to deliver medication, election ballots and ultimately, to stay connected. He also voiced the need to reform funding of the Postal Service’s employees’ retiree health benefits to maximize returns and limit the waste of current funds.

“I live in the sticks and I’m telling you the Postal Service is critically important for rural America. Folks around the country rely on the mail every day for essential deliveries,” Tester said. “I was pleased to meet Ms. Brennan and I look forward to continuing our dialogue to restore mail delivery standards in rural America.”

Tester highlighted that closing processing plants and cutting service standards will greatly impact the speed of delivery around the country. Since 2011, 141 mail processing facilities have been closed, including six in Montana. Eighty-two more facilities are expected to close by September of this year – a plan that Tester calls “short-sighted.”

Tester is a member of the Senate’s Governmental Affairs Committee that oversees the Postal Service. He has been critical of the previous Postmaster General for taking steps to privatize the agency and opposed the committee’s postal reform bill because it did not preserve strong enough mail delivery standards in rural America or adequately support postal workers.

This week Tester sent a letter to Brennan calling on the USPS to ensure accuracy, as well as its accountability to others, when tracking how long it takes for mail to get from place to place.

01/05/2015 – Where is it? Why hasn’t it arrived? Beginning this week, these questions will be asked by millions of Americans who will wonder why their prescription drugs, their church bulletin, their paycheck, and other important correspondence haven’t been delivered. The lowering of service standards by the United States Postal Service, effective today, will cause unnecessary hardships for the public and small businesses. It also will severely damage the world’s most efficient and affordable delivery network by driving away mail volume and revenue.

Postal customers may unfairly blame their letter carrier or their local post office, but the culpability rests with Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. The elimination of overnight delivery of first-class mail and the delay of mail throughout the country is part of the same flawed strategy that’s behind efforts to end Saturday and door-to-door deliveries, close post offices, cut back hours, and make other reductions in mail service.

The travesty is that the cuts are absolutely unnecessary – because postal operations are profitable. The Postal Service recently announced its most profitable quarter in seven years. In fiscal years 2014 and 2013, the USPS enjoyed an operating profit of $1.4 billion and more than $600 million, respectively.

As of last month, 51 senators and 160 House members had called for a one-year moratorium on the reduction in service and the closure of the mail processing centers to allow Congress time to enact postal legislation that would improve, not degrade, postal service. The Postmaster General and USPS Board of Governors should honor their request. They should stop delaying America’s mail.

Businesses, customers and APWU members who have complaints about delayed mail should be sure to let the Postal Regulatory Commission know, says Debby Szeredy, the union’s executive vice president. “Much of the delayed mail is in areas where plants and post offices have been consolidated or closed or where hours at post offices have been reduced,” she said.

“Filing complaints with the PRC will help document how egregious the problem is, so encourage your family, friends and neighbors to file complaints if they experience delays, too,” Szeredy said.

Filing a complaint online takes just a minute or two. To complete the form, start by selecting “Complaint.” Next, in the subject area, click the arrow and select “Mail Delivery/Postal Services.” Describe your complaint in the message box using 1,000 or fewer characters (letters) and include that you are requesting an investigation of your delayed mail.

If you are in an area where a plant or post office was consolidated, closed or faced reduced hours, be sure to include that in your complaint as well. Provide your name and address so that you can be contacted about the results. Print a copy of your complaint for your records by right-clicking on the mouse, then Click “Submit.” If you have a problem with your submission you may need to reduce the number of words in your complaint.

If you prefer, you also can send a letter to the PRC at the following address:

The APWU filed a complaint with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on Sept. 5 charging that the USPS is failing to comply with its own service standards and is depriving individuals, small businesses and organizations of the service they are entitled to by law.

The Postal Service’s failure to comply with the law is the result of an arbitrary decision to accelerate mail processing facility closures that were scheduled to take effect in 2014. Continue reading →